Much Ado About Nothing
by three french fries
Summary: Collection of short, 1500-word one-shots. James Potter/Lily Evans
1. Much Ado About Nothing

"James Potter, how many school rules do you plan on smashing to pieces this year?" Lily Evans asked, her hands on her hips.

"As many as I can," James Potter replied, crossing his legs and leaning back in his squashy armchair.

Beside him, his closest friend Sirius Black added, "Don't frown like that, Evans. You're beginning to look like McGonagall already."

Lily's bright green eyes narrowed. Potter and Black had lost Gryffindor twenty-five points that day by turning the furniture in the Transfiguration classroom upside down and sticking it to the ceiling with a Permanent Sticking Charm. Professor McGonagall had all but thrown a fit. And Potter and Black were _not_ going to lose Gryffindor any more points—not on Lily's watch.

"It's going to take me forever to get those points back," Lily hissed. "Don't you have _any_ pride for your house? Consideration for others? Potter, you're arrogant, you're self-centred—are there any more of your bad qualities I haven't discovered yet?"

"Try discovering some of my good qualities for once, Evans," Potter snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I can't see beyond that big head of yours!"

"I'll make you a deal," said Potter, suddenly quiet and serious. Beside him, Black straightened.

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"I won't break any school rules for a week—"

Sirius Black, who had until then kept unusually quiet, barked with laughter. "That's about as possible as Evans eloping with Professor Flitwick!"

Lily glared at Black. "And?" she asked Potter.

"And if I don't lose Gryffindor any points for a whole week, starting this Friday evening, then you go out with me during the weekend."

Lily snorted. "Deal."

Potter's eyes had become suddenly bright. "Really?"

Lily shrugged. "If you can accomplish an impossible task, I can do the same. But you can't."

"But if I don't lose any points for an entire week—"

"Which is about as possible as me eloping with Professor Flitwick—"

"Aw, Evans, that was my idea!"

"Oh, shut up, Black."

"If I don't lose any points for an entire week, then you'll go out with me?"

"Sure."

"Swear?"

Sirius Black shot up, having apparently thought of something ghastly. His face was a dangerous chalky colour.

"But I won't have anyone to break the rules with me! Remus will back out and become the goody-goody he is underneath and Peter will—"

Potter and Lily ignored him.

"I, Lily Evans," said Lily, her bright green eyes glowing with determination, "swear solemnly on whatever deity Potter considers holy, that I will go out with him next weekend if he doesn't lose Gryffindor any points during the entirety of next week, starting this Friday night."

"Thank you," said Potter, his own hazel eyes mirroring Lily's determination.

"But what about the prank we planned where we were going to cover McGonagall's office with kittens?" Black whined.

Lily crossed her arms and leant against a nearby wall as Potter's face turned the same shade of chalk as Black's.

"Operation Fluffy!" he cried. "How could I have forgotten?"

Lily smirked. "You only have this one chance, Potter," she said snidely, turning towards the girls' dormitories.

_Later that night_

"You _what_?" gasped Emmeline Vance, promptly falling off her canopied bed.

"I said, only if he doesn't lose Gryffindor any points for an entire _week_," Lily clarified.

Marlene McKinnon, who had picked up her dropped jaw from one of the other beds, shook her head wisely. "You're in for a date with James Potter, Lily Evans, whatever you may think."

Lily shrugged. "_If_ he doesn't lose Gryffindor any points. And even if he does, it's just a date with James Potter. It's not like I'm going to marry him or anything."

"Oh, Lily," said Mary MacDonald sagely from the last bed. "You haven't caught onto the Gryffindor maxim yet."

"And what," said Lily, "is that?"

"'What James Potter wants, James Potter gets,'" said Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline in unison.

Lily tossed her hair again. "Evidence of his bigheadedness."

"True, nevertheless," said Mary.

"Well, if he doesn't break any rules, we'll talk about it later. And meanwhile, I want to hear no more about it."

_In the boys__' __dorms_

"I can't believe it, mate," Remus groaned, flopping onto his bed. "I can't believe Lily might go on a date with you."

"Key word being _might_," growled Sirius, who had kidnapped James' Snitch and was staring morosely at the ceiling. Ever since he'd realised that his best friend's deal meant that Operation Fluffy was now down to only one conspirator, he had not been in a good mood.

Remus ignored him. The best thing to do when Sirius was being moody was to ignore him, as Remus had found out through hard trial. "You should hear her on prefect rounds, going on and on about the trials and tribulations you cause her—"

"She _talks_ about me?" James positively glowed. "You do realise that if she goes on a date with you, you'll owe me three Galleons?"

Remus sighed. "I can't believe I promised you three whole Galleons. That's—" he counted on his fingers.

"A Galleon is seventeen Sickles," supplied Peter Pettigrew nervously.

"I know that," Remus said, giving Peter Pettigrew a small smile. But three whole Galleons—that's fifteen chocolate frogs!"

"Fifteen chocolate frogs for _me_," sang James.

"_If_," Remus reminded him.

_Four days later_

"Potter!" Lily screeches, launching herself into the middle of the heated duel that has broken out between Potter and Mulciber.

"He—tried—to—" pants Potter, dodging a Stunning Spell and firing one of his own at the Slytherin. Black, who was frozen when the duel started, collects his wits and screams, "Anteoculatea!"

Unfortunately, the spell rebounds and hits Potter instead. Giant antlers sprout from his head and Potter freezes.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TWO," screams Lily, hitting Potter with a Full Body-Bind Curse, "NOT TO DUEL WITH SLYTHERINS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE—"

Potter's eyes frantically dart around the room, but he is completely silent.

Mulciber narrows his eyes. Black shoots a jinx at him, which Mulciber easily blocks with his wand. Lily whirls around and hexes Black with the Full Body-Bind Curse as well. She is about to send another Body-Bind Curse at Mulciber when his well-placed Color-Changing Charm turns Lily's skin completely sky-blue.

"That," she says, her sky-blue skin darkening and her green eyes strangely intense in her blue face, "is IT."

And with that she begins to duel.

James is riveted by her wand's quick, easy slashes and flashing curses, and he almost sighs when Professor McGonagall arrives on the scene, and stops the brawl.

And fifty points are taken from Gryffindor.

Because of him.

_Half an hour later_

"You could have just told me he tried to jinx me from behind," Lily mumbles, her head downcast. They are alone now, in the Common Room, and she sat him down to yell at him, but the conversation is taking a completely different turn.

James almost snorts with derision. "You wouldn't have believed me."

When she looks up, her face is red. "I'm sorry for starting that duel."

"You didn't start it, I did."

"Look, Potter, I'm sorry," she says. "It was an extremely cowardly thing Mulciber did, and I guess it doesn't matter that Gryffindor is losing fifty points, because Slytherin is in top position for the House Cup now and it's lost more than that. I appreciate your standing up for me."

James doesn't answer. He's still bitter that the date is off. So bitter that even the fact that Lily Evans is apologising to him is no consolation.

"You know what, let's just let all that go. I'm sorry, it's my fault."

"Mmhmm," agrees James.

Lily pauses. "Potter, will you go out with me?"

"_What?!_"


	2. Maybe

"—for _once_!" Lily yells, her voice pitched so high that a few first- or second-year Gryffindors seated in the Common Room chairs turn and give her frightened looks. The rest do the their best to ignore her, but Dorcas Meadowes pointedly collects her schoolwork and leaves. "James Potter, for _once _in your life why can't you just—"

In the background, Lily can hear Emmeline Vance talking in what is meant to be a soothing voice, but Lily isn't just angry now, she's nearly hysterical. And she can't even remember why she's angry—she just knows that there are trapped screams in her throat and if only there were some way to wipe that look off James Potter's face—what right has he to be looking so hurt? Everything's always centred around him and she, Lily Evans, is sick to the bone of it—

"Why on _earth _can't you just—!" Lily chokes on her own words. She cannot, will not break down. She is Head Girl and she cannot, _will not break down._

James Potter's eyes are hazel and angry and hurt.

"_Why_—" Lily begins for the first time, feeling a scream rise in her throat. She can't even remember why she's yelling at James Potter except that he's been doing something ridiculously unsuited to his position as Head Boy, _again._

"Why can't I just _what, _Evans?" says Potter, his voice as ominous as his eyes. "You _know _we didn't mean to hurt—"

Lily can't face him, so she does something she's pretty sure she hasn't done since third grade; she turns on her heel and runs away. Up to Emmeline's dorm room, the room she used to share with three other girls, where she throws herself on the nearest bed and buries her face in the blankets. She hears the muffled _slam _of her friends entering, and then all is quiet.

Emmeline, Mary and Marlene are silent, and Lily does nothing to break the silence. But they all know that it must end sometime soon, and Lily wants to cry. She could have burst into tears just moments ago, but she simply _can't _squeeze them out now, when she most needs to.

Lily looks up from her pillow. "Marlene. What should I do?" She's so empty, so horribly empty…

Marlene concentrates, a frown swimming across her face. "You should tell him what you want him to do."

Lily buries her face again and mumbles, "I can't."

"Look, Lily. I don't know what you really feel, and for someone who always knows everything—" Lily can feel Mary stopping, hoping for a smile from Lily at her joke. "For someone who always knows what her best friend is feeling, that's saying a lot. But you know what you feel. I can tell you do."

Lily takes one look at her three friends and the tears come.

* * *

Her face is still tear-streaked, and James feels like a monster, standing there at the door of his room in the Heads' dorm, gazing down at Lily Evans' tear-stained face. But he hardens himself, though he knows that he caused her tears.

"What?" he says in a voice that he can hear crack a little. _He _hasn't done anything wrong. It's all been her fault this time. Lily Evans, always yelling at him for things she wouldn't even subtract points from other people for. Lily Evans, always high-strung when it comes to him. Lily Evans, the girl he's liked since he was in second year.

She moves her lips as if about to speak, but doesn't—she can't speak. He manages to think ironically, _Lily Evans off her pedestal_.

He sighs and relents, stepping out into the Heads' Common Room. Her hair is pulled into a last-minute dark red ponytail down her back.

She sits on a chair, silent, flushing uncomfortably until James breaks the silence. "Come to finish your sentence?"

Her face turns the color of her hair, but she doesn't argue.

"So finish it," says James, but his heart trembles. He knows that she was wrong to blatantly insult him as she just did. He knows that he was in the right, at least this once, and everything she said was undeserved.

And he knows that_ he, James Potter, is in love with Lily Evans_.

She takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"_What?_"

"I'm sorry, Potter. I'm sorry I yelled at you for no plausible reason and I'm sorry I treated you like dirt."

James stands there with his mouth hanging open like some halfwit. With a tremendous effort, he snaps it shut. "You're _sorry_?" And he, James Potter, regrets it the minute it's out of his mouth.

She looks away. "Yeah."

James runs a hand through his dark hair. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah."

Lily looks at him like he has gone mad. "Why can't you just—" She stops herself, realising that going on will mean going in a circle.

"Why can't I just _what_, Evans?" he says quietly. Pauses. "Look, Evans. I've fancied you since forever, okay? And you've always said no. Maybe that egged me on at first; maybe in third year I was just curious how long it would take for you to actually agree. Maybe in fourth year I'd gotten into the habit and couldn't stop because I, James Potter, never give up on anything. Maybe in fifth year—"

Breathe in.

"—maybe in fifth year I actually started liking you. Maybe in sixth year I meant every word I'd ever said to you about asking you out. And maybe now—"

She is staring at him intently, her green eyes focused and brighter and greener than emeralds or grass—a green the color of every galaxy the universe has ever known. Lily's very own green.

"Maybe now I'm in love with you, Lily. And all you've ever said is no. All you're ever going to say is no. And you're just going to keep believing that I'm the person I was in third year, in fourth year. But I'm not, because I'm me. And I am in love with you."

Lily doesn't speak, but she doesn't need to. The silence is comfortable, for once, not bitter like it had been in the past. And James doesn't resist when Lily rises from her seat and puts both her arms around him; he hugs her back, because that moment is theirs, if it is their only moment together.

And then she opens the door to leave, and James is going to let her leave, because he may have pursued her relentlessly for six and a half years but now he is going to let her go without a sound, without a murmur of protest—

"Evans!" He feels the familiar words bubbling to his lips. "Will you go out with me?"

Lily turns, looking at him with her eyes full of stars. "Maybe."

And James Potter smiles. Because Lily, even though she hasn't actually said it, has said yes.


	3. Mistletoe

**A/N: This oneshot is in no way related to the previous one, unless you want it to be. Also, MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone!**

MISTLETOE

Christmas was the one time of the year when Lily felt that the Marauders' actions throughout the castle were at least tolerable, and at most slightly enjoyable. It was also the one time of the year when she would actually laugh _with_ the Marauders, instead of _at_ them.

When Lily climbed through the portrait hole during Christmas Eve her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she was amused to find that the four Marauders—Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and James Potter—had set up a full-blown Christmas party in the Common Room. She went up to her dorm room to put down her brim-full satchel, dropping a quill, her Potions homework, and a spell book in the process, and then came back down.

The Gryffindor Common Room was completely filled, which was surprising, considering it was the holidays. Lily caught sight of Christine Brightman and her friend Claire Lane, two Ravenclaws, and this confirmed her suspicions that Potter and his gang had whispered the password to some of the people from the other Houses.

Lily joined her friends, Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald and Emmeline Vance, who were sitting around the fire laughing and talking.

"Lily!" Marlene feigned extreme shock. "You've come to join a party—"

"—thrown by the Marauders, no less, two of whom are your sworn archenemies!" continued Emmeline.

"It's Christmas," Lily shrugged with a laugh. "Anything is possible. And even the famous Lily Evans sometimes socialises."

"I'm proud of you, Lils," giggled Mary MacDonald.

Lily was about to smile and continue conversing with her friends in sweet Christmas nothings, but the gaggle of girls were just then spotted by Sirius Black, who wound his way over to them.

"Lily-Billy-bunting!" gasped Sirius in mock shock.

Lily narrowed her green eyes. "Call me that once again, and I blow off your overlarge head. Literally."

"Okay, okay, sorry, Lily," said Sirius. "Why are you here?"

"Joining in on the Christmas spirit, James," said Marlene.

"Hm," said a voice from beside Sirius. "Didn't know you were capable of doing that, Evans."

_James Potter_, thought Lily, clenching her fists and teeth. "I'm not, with you around," she said aloud.

"Also, in case you haven't noticed, you're sitting under—" Potter pointed with his wand, "—mistletoe."

Lily looked up. "Potter, you cheat," she snarled, moving one seat away. "You conjured that up just now."

"Yeah, Prongs, don't cheat," said Sirius, grinning. James Potter, Lily was glad to note, looked sufficiently embarrassed.

Mary giggled. "Lily, for future reference, the mistletoe is there," she pointed to a spot just beyond the entrance to the boys' dormitories, "there," –a spot just beyond the entrance to the girls' dorms— "there," –just above the Christmas tree in the centre of the room— "and there," –a spot in front of the punch bowl.

"Thank you, Mary," smiled Lily.

"Aw, MacDonald," sighed Sirius Black. "Look at poor Prongsie's face."

All four girls laughed as James Potter's face turned a shade of blackberry-red. "Well, Merry Christmas," he mumbled, and turned on his heel.

"Lily-Billy-bunting," said Sirius, dodging Lily's punch, "you really should kiss Jamesie, you know. He's been feeling so blue lately."

"Kiss James?" Lily was about to laugh out loud at the absurdity of the thought, when an idea flashed on in her mind.

"Yeah, come on, kiss James," said Sirius, his eyes widening in anticipation.

"What'll you do if I kiss him?" Lily smirked, her eyes glinting.

"I'll kiss Marlene," said Sirius. The girl in question blushed.

"_This_ Marlene?" Lily asked, gesturing towards Marlene McKinnon, who was now almost as red as James Potter had been just now.

"_This_ Marlene," agreed Sirius.

"Promise?" said Lily, grinning.

"Promise."

`.

_holly berries_

_`._

James froze from where he was across the room—he'd just caught and snogged Christine Brightman under the mistletoe in the archway leading to the girls' dorms. Christine, a sweet sixth-year Ravenclaw, had blushed and left.

But now he spotted Lily Evans coming towards him.

_And he was still under the mistletoe._

Lily came towards him with intent in her bright green eyes—which were fixed on him. Her red hair, down the way James liked it, billowed out behind her like a sail in a gentle wind. And the world was spinning and he couldn't move and Lily's eyes were oh, so green, and he couldn't move, and the world was spinning…

James felt the eyes of almost the entire Common Room on him. He tried to slink away, but his muscles weren't moving.

Then, just as she was about to reach him, Lily swerved and swooped down on Marlene McKinnon's fourth-year brother, James McKinnon. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, which made him blush, and said, "Happy Christmas, James!" 

"Evans!" came a howl from Sirius across the room. "I MEANT JAMES _POTTER_!"

"Well, you just said kiss James," said Lily innocently. "And I kissed James! Which means now you have to—"

In a flash Sirius had darted across the Common Room and clapped his hand over her mouth. "Evans," he hissed, "I will _kill_ you."

The partygoers, who by now had realised what had happened, laughed and turned away.

"Okay, but not before you kiss Marlene," said Lily purposely. "And you said _this_ Marlene, so don't you go kissing Marlene Green."

"As if that would be any better. She's a _seventh_ year, for heaven's sake."

"Yeah, so kiss Marlene McKinnon."

`.

_mistletoe_

_`._

It was late—two o'clock Christmas morning—and most of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had already left. Even the Gryffindors were drifting away.

Lily, contented, half-asleep and warm, was just starting to return to the dorm when someone grabbed her around the waist and said in a triumphant voice, "Ha! Gotcha!"

"James Potter!" screeched Lily. The remaining Gryffindors were too drunk, too engrossed in their own business, or too sleepy to care. A few gazes turned their way, then left.

"Ha, ha," said James Potter, his hair ruffled in a way Lily secretly thought quite attractive.

Then their lips crashed, and Lily felt her arms going around his neck, and herself rising on her toes to meet him more, and she yielded, and _oh god this was James Potter_, but she didn't want to pull away, so she let him, and her eyes closed…

`.  
_silver stags_  
`.

After she'd bidden James Potter a hasty and rather confused goodnight, Lily hurried up to her own dorm. Her head was heavy, but her feet were light. She hated Potter even more, but oh Merlin she loved the way he'd felt in her mouth, in her heart.

Emmeline, Marlene and Mary were still down in the Common Room, Marlene probably still tangled with Sirius. Lily smiled, because she wanted to be alone right now, alone and warm and oh, so alight.

There was a midnight-blue box on her pillow.

Lily opened it and read the note.

In curly, clear handwriting, it said simply,

"_Merry Christmas, Lily. Love, Prongs_."

Under the note, there was a pendant. It was a tiny silver stag, the size of Lily's thumbnail, and Lily was confused as to why he'd chosen a stag, but even as she wondered she delighted over the delicate moon-white sheen the stag gave off. She felt faintly bad for not giving James anything, but they'd work that out tomorrow, _as friends_.

Though she was extremely tired, Lily's fingers found their own way round her neck and clasped the pendant into place.


	4. Lemon Cake

_The memory that Lily Evans used to summon her corporeal Patronus, the first time she did it, is lemon cake._

_Why it should be lemon cake that finally called up her doe, she doesn't know, not when so many other happy thoughts went out to the tip of her wand and burst into shapeless, silvery-grey mist. She had thought the moment she was sorted into Gryffindor would summon her corporeal Patronus, if anything would. Then, when that had failed, she had tried various hours with Severus, but all of them were tinged with bitterness. She'd tried various times Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup and moments in the dorms or Common Room with her friends; none of them conjured her anything but wisps of mist._

_Then she thought back to the time before Hogwarts, when her mother had made lemon cake one sunny afternoon. Her mother only made lemon cake when she was very happy, Lily knew; and her mother had been very happy that afternoon, so she baked a lemon cake._

_Nothing beat her mother's lemon cake. It was tangy, zesty and lemony, and the cream between the two layers of spongy cake smacked deliciously of marmalade. It was frosted thickly, white frosting with a little lemon juice in it; and mint leaves were added to garnish the cake with the final touch of cleanness and sharpness._

_Lily had been about eight then, and Petunia was nine, and their father hadn't begun to bald yet; and her mother's laughing voice had echoed through the house and they had all gathered on the verandah and eaten the whole thing, frosting and all, slice by slice, washed down with much-sweetened tea. Petunia had had a stomachache before supper that night, but they were all happy and Lily's mouth had been filled with lemon cake and her lips smeared with it._

_And a doe had leapt out of her wand, silver and shining and more beautiful than anything Lily had ever seen._

* * *

Lily is determined that she will spend the Hogsmeade weekend before the final exams of sixth year in Gryffindor Tower studying. She has powered through Potions with no problems at all, and with some help from Remus and Emmeline during Saturday night she has mastered Transfiguration and Mary has helped her Sunday morning with Herbology. Now it is Sunday afternoon, two o'clock, and everyone is at Hogsmeade but Lily is frustrated nearly to tears because she _can't _get her Patronus to appear again.

She tries everything—lives every happy moment of her life again, but she simply can't get the damn thing to appear. With a final huff, she throws down her wand and decides that she will move on to studying for History of Magic.

"Hey, Evans!"

She sighs without looking up from the little coffee-table where she is kneeling. "I'm not in the mood, Potter."

"You don't even know what I'm going to say," he says, a little hurt.

Lily realises that she's been too sharp, and it's true he no longer tries to annoy her. She looks up from her homework and sighs again. "I'm sorry, Potter. I just—I'm snappy because I CAN'T get my Patronus to appear again. I did it the first time but it's not coming out no matter how hard I try."

Potter slides to the floor next to her, closer than he's ever been to her. She's painfully aware of that, and she's also painfully aware that James freaking Potter is—has become in some mysterious way—_fit_, no matter how annoying he might be.

"What you need, Evans," he says, "is a break."

"I don't have time! I still have to get my History of Magic done not to mention Arithmancy and—"

"Point proven."

Despite herself, Lily allows the corners of her lips to twist into a small smile. "How am I going to have a break with all my friends out in Hogsmeade?"

Potter feigns hurt. "I'm not your friend?"

Lily laughs and makes a statement she would have been horrified at herself for making just half a year ago. "I guess you are. So what are we going to do?"

"We're going to go to Hogsmeade to join them, of course."

Lily laughs again at the simplicity of his answer and for the sheer joy of laughing, and decides that she could do with a break with Potter. "Hold on while I change out of my pyjamas."

Potter smiles and stands. "Will do, m'lady."

* * *

_She wondered that never, in all the almost-six years she'd spent in Potter's company, she'd never noticed how very hazel his eyes are. But then, she never thought hazel was a particularly attractive colour before, and now she wondered that there was a time when she had not thought that his eyes were the most beautiful pair of eyes in all the world._

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Lily, in a dark blue T-shirt and white shorts, is doing something she never thought she would ever do. She's walking beside James Potter on the way to Hogsmeade, and she's laughing like she's never laughed before. It's not a date—James Potter is ostensibly helping her with History of Magic, but actually he's just having fun and Lily lets him. She really did need a break, she realised, and why on earth did she ever think James Potter was annoying?

"—Then that goblin, I forgot his name, but he was hellishly ugly," James says, assuming an expression that turns his handsome face into something that more resembles a misshapen potato.

"Potter!" Lily protests, but she's laughing as she does it. "You're going to fail your History of Magic exam, and then how are you going to be able to do N.E.W.T.s next year?"

"I really don't care, m'lady," says Potter. "It's not as if, given the choice, I'm going to take the History of Magic N.E.W.T. anyway—"

"Stop calling me m'lady," says Lily.

"Okay, m'lady."

They near Hogsmeade, where they see gaggles of Hogwarts students giggling and talking, coming in and out of shops. A knot of Ravenclaw girls they know spots them and wave and whisper among themselves. Potter, waves back and informs them, "Evans isn't serious competition! I'm still single!" They laugh and pass away.

Lily swats him with her satchel and blushes furiously.

"What?" he asks, smiling down at her, and she laughs anyway. Then he says, "Sirius and the rest are in Honeydukes. Want to join them?"

Lily stares into his hazel eyes with as much intensity as she can muster in her green ones. "No, let's just go have drinks somewhere alone. Emmeline is off with your lot, and Marlene has a date in Madame Puddifoot's that I warned her against but she insisted on going on anyway, and Mary is with Adrian and I wouldn't disturb them for the world."

He looks confused now and she wishes he would look that way more often. How has she only noticed today that the way he ruffles his hair when he's slightly confused is endearing?

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," he says. "Have you ever seen Remus when he's got ahold of more than seven Chocolate Frogs?"

"Once," Lily confesses gravely. "It is not an experience I would wish on anyone, much less witness again."

Then they both laugh and the ice is broken, but a part of her wishes they are still gazing at each other. She chides herself.

"Three Broomsticks?" he asks her, and she nods.

"You didn't think I'd want to go anywhere else, did you?"

"Well, I don't know. You're a girl, and birds always flock to Madame Puddifoot's…"

"If there's one colour I absolutely can't abide, it's pink. That place is just choked up with lace, and frills, and you can't look in any direction without seeing a couple about to do unmentionable things on the table."

"Right, right," he says as he pushes open the door to the Three Broomsticks. "Sorry for mentioning the unspeakable."

"That's all right," Lily says. He orders them two Butterbeers, with an apologetic glance at Madame Rosmerta, the barista. "I would order a Firewhiskey, but…"

"_No!_" Lily finishes for him empathetically.

Madame Rosmerta passes Lily a quick smile, which Lily returns. She and Madame Rosmerta have been fast friends since third year. Lily had emptied her already only half-full tankard of Butterbeer over James Potter's head when Potter asked her out loudly and blatantly in the middle of the pub.

Potter grins. "Remember in third year, when I asked you out right there and you poured an entire mug of Butterbeer onto me?"

"It wasn't an _entire_ mug," Lily quickly corrects.

Potter laughs. "I'm definitely much wiser now."

"I should hope so. I wouldn't like to do _that_ again."

"Oh, come on, Evans. You know you were secretly delighted at being asked out by me—"

Lily gives him a look. "I take that back. I _would _like to do that again."

Their Butterbeers arrive and Lily sips hers appreciatively. It's been too long since she has had a Butterbeer. She's forgotten how they slip into her insides and make everything better almost instantly.

"You haven't tasted Rosmerta's lemon cake, have you?"

At the words "lemon cake", Lily's heart starts beating for no apparent reason. "I didn't know the Three Broomsticks offered lemon cake," she says.

"Only to me," says James with a grin, "because of my devilish good looks. Actually, Rosmerta likes Sirius better, as most girls do—I can't see why, can you? It's not like he's smarter or better-looking—"

Lily elbows him.

* * *

_He has a nice laugh. Halfway through the afternoon, Lily noticed that he has a nice laugh. She didn't know why it should bother her, but the fact that his laugh sounds like a thousand nice things all bound together with the rush of the wind echoed in her mind and dashed through it long after the last remnant of lemon cake had been washed down with one last mouthful of Butterbeer and she had once again denied his offers to buy her something stronger._

* * *

The moment that the witch turns up on Lily's doorstep and tells her that she is a witch and must go to Hogwarts—the moment when Lily finally dares to believe all Severus said to her, wholeheartedly—that moment doesn't work.

The lemon cake moment with her family is tried and pushed aside, because she can't think of that without thinking of the pieces her family has broken into and the sourness Petunia holds in her mouth whenever she speaks of Lily herself.

Then Lily remembers that she spent an afternoon with James Potter a week ago, just themselves, alone except for Madame Rosmerta's glorious lemon cake.

"_Expecto Patronum,_" she says softly, and marvels when there the silvery deer stands before her, gentle and doe-eyed. She marvels that the memory she uses to summon her Patronus for only the second time should be of the person who, only a week before, she would not have given a penny for.

She reaches out to her doe, only to jump and shrink back when she hears the voice of James Potter.

"So, your Patronus is a doe."

She turns and smiles at him. "Yes. I'd known that already. This is only the second time I've managed to conjure a corporeal Patronus. The first was about three weeks ago."

James' glasses slide off one side of his nose and he reaches up to straighten them. He pulls his wand out of his back pocket. "_Expecto Patronum._"

She has barely time to exclaim over his Patronus before Sirius Black barges into the Common Room where they are, barely awake. He stops short at the sight of the two Patronuses, though, and sweeps a glance over Lily and James where they stand. Then a grin as wide as is humanly possible spreads over his face.

"So, I'm guessing James' Patronus is the doe, and Evans' is the stag."

"_Padfoot!_ You _knew _what my Patronus was."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I never would have thought that someone with your personality could have managed to conjure up anything so regal and magnificent as a stag."

* * *

_The black-haired baby laughs as the brightly coloured ball whizzes across the room, trying his best to catch it in his tiny hands. His green eyes alight with concentration, he manages to trap it between his fingers when it passes him by._

_Lily laughs. Only ten months old, and already looking so exactly like his father it seems impossible! She can't believe everything that has happened to her since the afternoon of the lemon cake before Hogwarts._

_The clock strikes eight. Lily brightens and picks Harry up. James will be coming home soon, tired but never too tired to give his wife and child their due share of loving. Just like she is never too tired when she comes home from Order missions to find them in the living room playing and waiting for her._

_Harry clamours to be let down, but Lily holds him firmly until she can set him down in the playpen in the kitchen._

_She has a lemon cake to take out of the oven._


End file.
